It started traditionally enough, growing up in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, surfing along the beaches of Torrance and Redondo. Building his own surfboards in the garage, Joe was enthusiastic, but the end products left something to be desired. “We always made our own boards, and man, they were pretty bad,” Joe admits. The requisite sojourn to Hawaii after high school; big waves and surf shack living. But for Joe it was never just about the waves. He remembers staring across the channel at Catalina Island as a kid, wondering. It was only a matter of time before he shaped his own paddleboard and, in 1976, made his first crossing from the Isthmus to P.V. He was 16 years old. But there was something about the deep-water crossing, the sense of adventure, the feeling of harmony as effort matches environment, stoke after stroke, mile after mile. What started almost as a stunt quickly became an obsession. Although first paddled in 1932 and first raced in 1955, the Catalina Classic had all but slipped into the history pages by the 1980s. The event was revived in 1982—Joe, busy surfing, shaping surfboards and tending bar in Redondo Beach actually missed out on the first modern crossing. He wouldn’t miss another. Today Joe has raced in 24 consecutive Catalina Classics, having won back-to-back titles in 1988-89. Joe Bark paddleboards, in the meantime, virtually own the 32-mile course from Catalina’s Isthmus, around the fabled R-10 buoy off Palos Verdes and on to the Manhattan Beach Pier. More paddlers have crossed the channel more times on Bark designs than any other paddleboard, including six-time champion and 2007 open-class winner Kyle Daniels. But for Joe paddleboarding has always been about more than finish times and trophies. It’s about camaraderie, sharing the excitement, the tedium, the satisfaction and suffering of this unique ocean endurance sport. Of all ocean sports. Through his infectious enthusiasm, boundless energy and open generosity Joe has been responsible for setting more men and women on the waterman’s path than anyone else on the coast. Not with corporate marketing or fancy advertising but through example; not only building and racing paddleboards, but also surfing, diving and spear-fishing, fishing or just exploring tide pools with his kids. Living the ocean life and sharing it with others. That’s Joe Bark. JOE BARK INTERVIEW
Bark: I have been racing the Catalina Classic for 25 years and it does not give up very many bumps to ride. The bumps, or chop, are not the correct direction to get to the finish line, or the flat glass is a smooth fast race, you never know. Bark: -- Bark: Most of the paddlers from California paddle prone or on their knees, and in a flat race it can pay off big. If the ocean is junk wind and chop the paddlers spend more time on the belly paddle. Kiva and Keoni will do great in any condition but I feel they would like it with big wind to find and ride any bump they can. Bark: The stock board can pick up bump and some runs even when they are not great they do ad up in distance. The sport grows when the guys from Hawaii come here and we go to Hawaii to race. It will be great to have Kiva do Catalina and have Keoni back in the open class. The boards I made for Kiva are the same boards I sent him on Maui, only 4-5 pounds heavier. The board I sent to Keoni, to train in flat water to get ready for Catalina, will be the same shape. I have not looked at the reports on wind so I am going to see what we have when I hit the water. Bark: The more races the better for the sport of paddleboarding and we will see races all over the map on lakes and rivers. |